Welcome to our monthly newsletter. It’s a round-up of the work we’ve been delivering, the industry news we’ve been paying attention to, and a few things we think are worth clocking as the agenda shifts month to month.
Alongside client campaigns, we also shipped a few things behind the scenes, including our 2026 Broadcast Planner, because the advantage in broadcast is often the strategizing that happens weeks and months before anyone else moves.
What follows is a monthly snapshot: the work we’ve been doing, the stories that shaped the agenda, the broadcast we admired and the bits we didn’t, and a look ahead at where attention is likely to open up next.
BF MEDIA’S NEWS
BF Media’s 2026 Campaign Planner
We kicked off January by launching our 2026 Campaign Planner, a tool built for PR professionals who want to spot both opportunities and dangers ahead of time.
It’s not just a list of dates. It shows you how the year actually piles up: when the news cycle will be packed, where the quieter windows sit, and how political moments, cultural events, and broadcast priorities are likely to collide. The kind of tool that helps you plan campaigns properly, instead of hoping for the best.Get in touch if you’d like a copy.
A new addition to BF Media
We brought Olivia on board at the beginning of January as Marketing Executive. Her job is to create content that connects people with the work we’re doing. She studied Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, so the broadcast world isn’t unfamiliar territory, now she’s fully committed to it. Half Spanish, half English and based in London.
You can check out her views on her first experience working with BBC breakfast here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviacamillelynn/
INDUSTRY NEWS
BBC – Youtube deal
On the 21st of January, the BBC announced a partnership with YouTube to create content made specifically for the platform. This new format will be aimed to target a younger audience with live news streams and coverage of big events like the Winter Olympics.
What’s different this time is that the BBC will actually be making full programmes for YouTube from the start, rather than just uploading what’s already been produced by the broadcaster.
The deal also includes training and development opportunities for UK creators. For UK audiences, the content will be ad-free like usual with the licence-fee model, but international viewers might see ads. This is all in hopes of bringing in new revenue for BBC Studios.
Click here to hear our founders thoughts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/safi-zisman-5aa21929/recent-activity/all/
CLIENT WORK
We started the month by launching Fighting the Fads with Oti Mabuse for MyFitnessPal, tackling fitness misinformation on TikTok and positioning them as the credible voice in a space full of viral nonsense.
We worked with Amicable, an online divorce service that helps couples separate cooperatively rather than through traditional solicitors, reinforcing the message that separation doesn’t have to be a battle for their Split Happens campaign.
We supported the London Cabaret Club‘s in announcing their three-year talent programme, creating genuine career pathways in entertainment for young people who’d otherwise struggle to get through the door.
Towards the end of January we worked with Art of London and artist Lakwena Maciver to promote February’s upcoming Art After Dark programme, helping transform Piccadilly Circus into a disco-inspired installation, which will run from the 3rd-10th next month.
And finally, we landed Lucky Saint on BBC Breakfast discussing their “Though Shalt Go To The Pub” campaign which looks at how alcohol-free beer is rewriting the economics of a traditionally tough month for pubs during Dry January.
The month in numbers
- 257 pieces of coverage across 5 campaigns
WHO DID BROADCAST GOOD AND WHO DID BROADCAST BAD
NBA’s London Game 2026
The NBA’s London game on 18th January was always going to draw attention. First regular-season match since 2019, sold-out crowd at The O2, Memphis Grizzlies vs Orlando Magic. But how the league made the most of that platform is what really caught our eye over here at BF Media.
First, the NBA announced new support for the London Coaches Programme, a facilities fund for community courts, and NBA Court Time sessions. These stories reached beyond sports pages and worked well in pre-game broadcasts. Instead of focusing on a single game, the week was dubbed “NBA in London,” with NBA House at Magazine London providing broadcasters with additional visuals and stories that extended coverage beyond game night.
Simultaneously, they were also promoted the Jr. NBA 3v3 programme, turning media attention into a recruitment pipeline for youth basketball.
And they made sure to use the guaranteed press access to keep a bigger narrative moving: the potential European league. Throughout the trip, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver directed journalists back to ongoing discussions with FIBA and investors, keeping the “NBA Europe” story alive.
The game was the perfect hook. An opportunity to expand a narrative that was already forming and utilising it to inform the media of the many other projects the NBA has planned.
Tony Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News Debut
Poor old Tony Dokoupil. His first night anchoring CBS Evening News was the perfect example of just how unforgiving live TV can be. On the 5th of January, he visibly lost his place mid-broadcast:
“As you just heard from Jill, well, to other news now. Uh, to Governor Walz. No, we’re gonna do Mark Kelly. First day, first day, big problems here. Uh, are we going to Kelly here or are we gonna go to Jonah Kaplan?”
It was bad enough that viewers had to witness that awkward stammering of words, but he also called Minnesota “the Great Lake State” – that’s Michigan. CBS later edited both mistakes out of the YouTube version, which probably made people notice it more than if they’d just left it be.
You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXALJ_o2SzE
LOOKING AHEAD: FEBRUARY
February brings key moments like Valentine’s Day (14th) and the BAFTA Film Awards (22nd), more mapped out in our free 2026 Campaign Planner with full context on how the month is likely to unfold.
The timing couldn’t be better to launch one of the season’s most ambitious music-and-cinema crossovers. Charli XCX is set to release “Wuthering Heights” on the 13th of February, a new album created as a companion to Emerald Fennell’s upcoming film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic, arriving in cinemas on Valentine’s Day.
If 2024 gave us a BRAT summer, will 2026 give us a Heathcliff winter?
